Developers love to hate on notepad and any other text editors that Microsoft provides, and that’s completely fine: text editors like Notepad++, Sublime Text, and Atom were born to make developers curse at how awful an interface their code editor of choice is; but whether it’s because we get conditioned to love our tools or because of the limited options of such an ancient interface, most developers end up sticking with the same old text editor.
Python is a general purpose programming language. It has a clear syntax that is easy to learn and there are a lot of awesome frameworks for this language. That is why python has become one of the most popular programming languages as well as a favorite language of many expert programmers.
PyCharm
Type: IDE.
Price: US $ 199 per User – 1st year for Professional Developer.
Platform Support: WINDOWS, LINUX, MAC etc.
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PyCharm is one of the widely used Python IDE which was created by Jet Brains. It is one of the best IDE for Python. PyCharm is all a developer’s need for productive Python development.
With PyCharm, the developers can write a neat and maintainable code. It helps to be more productive and gives smart assistance to the developers. It takes care of the routine tasks by saving time and thereby increasing profit accordingly.
Best Features:
- It comes with an intelligent code editor, smart code navigation, fast and safe refactoring’s.
- PyCharm is integrated with features like debugging, testing, profiling, deployments, remote development and tools of the database.
- With Python, PyCharm also provides support to python web development frameworks, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Angular JS and Live edit features.
- It has a powerful integration with IPython Notebook, python console, and scientific stack.
Pros:
- It provides a smart platform to the developers who help them when it comes to auto code completion, error detection, quick fixing etc.
- It provides multiple framework support by increasing a lot of cost-saving factors.
- It supports a rich feature like cross-platform development so that the developers can write a script on different platforms as well.
- PyCharm also comes with a good feature of the customizable interface which in turn increases the productivity.
Cons:
- PyCharm is an expensive tool while considering the features and the tools it provides to the client.
- The initial installation is difficult and may hang up in between sometimes.
Official URL: Pycharm
Pydev
Type: IDE
Price: Open Source
Platform Support: QT, WINDOWS, LINUX, MAC OS etc.
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PyDev is an outside plugin for Eclipse.
It is basically an IDE that is used for Python development. It is linear in size. It mainly focuses on the refactoring of python code, debugging in the graphical pattern, analysis of code etc. It is a strong python interpreter.
As it’s a plugin for eclipse it becomes more flexible for the developers to use the IDE for development of an application with so many features. In open source IDE, it is one of the preferred IDE by the developers.
Best Features:
- It is a nice IDE with Django integration, auto code completion and code coverage feature.
- It supports some rich features like type hinting, refactoring, debugging, and code analysis.
- PyDev supports PyLint integration, tokens browser, interactive console, Unittest integration, and remote debugger etc.
- It also supports Mypy, black formatter, virtual environments, and analyzing f-strings.
Pros:
- PyDev provides a strong syntax high lighting, parser errors, code folding, and multi-language support.
- It has a good outline view, it marks occurrences as well and has an interactive console.
- It has good support for CPython, Jython, Iron Python, and Django and allows interactive probing in suspended mode.
- It provides tabs preferences, smart indent, Pylint integration, TODO tasks, auto-completion of keywords and content assistants.
Cons:
- Sometimes the plugins in PyDev become unstable by creating issues in the development of the application.
- Performance of PyDev IDE decreases if the application is too big with multiple plugins.
Official URL: PyDev
Wing
Type: IDE
Price: US $ 95 to US $ 179 PER USER FOR COMMERCIAL USE.
Platform Support: WINDOWS, LINUX, MAC OS etc.
Screenshots For Reference:
Wing is also a popular and powerful IDE in today’s market with a lot of good features which the developers require for python development.
It comes with a strong debugger and smart editor that makes the interactive Python development speed, accurate and fun to perform. Wing also provides a 30-day trial version for the developers to have a taste on its features.
Best Features:
- Wing helps in moving around the code with go-to-definition, find the uses and symbol’s in the application, edit symbol index, source browser, and effective multiple-file search.
- It supports the test-driven development with unit test, pytest, and Django testing framework.
- It assists remote development and is customizable and extensible too.
- It also has auto code completion, the error is displayed in a feasible manner and line editing is also possible.
Pros:
- In case of expiration of trial version, Wing provides around 10 minutes to the developers to migrate their application.
- It has a source browser which helps to show all the variables which are used in the script.
- Wing IDE provides an additional exception handling tab which helps a developer to debug the code.
- It provides an extract function which is under the refactor panel and is also a good help for the developers for increasing performance.
Cons:
- It is not capable of supporting dark themes which many developers like to use.
- Wing interface can be intimidating at the starting and the commercial version is way too expensive.
Official URL: Wing
IDLE
For: Beginner Pricing: Free
When you install Python, IDLE is also installed by default. This makes it easy to get started in Python. Its major features include the Python shell window(interactive interpreter), auto-completion, syntax highlighting, smart indentation, and a basic integrated debugger.
IDLE is a decent IDE for learning as it’s lightweight and simple to use. However, it’s not for optimum for larger projects.
Learn more: IDLE features
Visual Studio Code
For: Professional Pricing: Free
Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a free and open-source IDE created by Microsoft that can be used for Python development.
You can add extensions to create a Python development environment as per your need in VS code. It provides features such as intelligent code completion, linting for potential errors, debugging, unit testing and so on.
VS Code is lightweight and packed with powerful features. This is the reason why it becoming popular among Python developers.
Learn more:
Thonny
For: Beginner Pricing: Free
Thonny is a Python dedicated IDE that comes with Python 3 built-in. Once you install it, you can start writing Python code.
Thonny is intended for beginners. The user interface is kept simple so that beginners will find it easy to get started.
Though Thonny is intended for beginners, it has several useful features that also make it a good IDE for full-fledged Python development. Some of its features are syntax error highlighting, debugger, code completion, step through expression evaluation, etc.
Quick Tip: If you are a beginner, go to View and click variables. This will open variables view that contains your program’s variable list and their values.
Learn more: Thonny Official site
Conclusion
At the end of the day coding is all about getting stuff done. If you want to produce quality software, coding quickly and efficiently is important. The best way to do that is by using the right development tools.